Utility Anonymous

2018 Suddath Symposium

“The Chemical Ecology of Microbiome Interactions”

The majority of Earth’s biodiversity lies in the microbial realm. While some microbes act as pathogens, many serve as beneficial members in a network of ecological interactions - a microbiome. These interactions provide essential services to humans and ecosystems by transforming chemicals, for example through the consumption of greenhouse gases, detoxification, and nutrient cycling. The diversity and physiology of microbiomes are also driven by chemicals, including compounds that act as signals or weapons in microbial social interactions. It can be argued that “chemical” exchange is in fact the language of microbiomes.

The 2018 Suddath Symposium showcases microbiome research unified by the goal of understanding the chemistry and ecology of microbe-microbe and microbe-host interactions. This topic spans diverse fields, including biomedicine and genomics, chemical ecology, biogeochemical cycling, environmental science, biophysics, and the evolution of microbial interactions, including those involving pathogens. The Symposium is intended to spark discussion of concepts that span systems, and will therefore feature leaders in both environmental and human microbiome research."